Yesterday I cooked a test run of a couple of whole chickens. I’ll be doing a 10-chicken cook in a few days and wanted to test Keri’s Cranberry BBQ Sauce and Chicken Rub (http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/19800690...330004152#8330004152) - it’s a winner! (Thanks, Keri!)
The general advice here is not to cook whole chickens because the breast meat overcooks by the time the dark meat is done. But breaking down 10 raw chickens is more time-consuming than cutting cooked chickens into portions, so that’s my plan.
Here’s an idea that I haven’t seen on the forums:
I trimmed off the large chunks of fat from around the cavity, coarsely chopped them, and reserved them. After brining and applying the rub, I put the chickens (not trussed) on the WSM grate breast-side down. Then I put some of the fat into the cavity over each breast half hoping that it would baste the breast meat from the inside. I also added a couple of onion wedges.
I was aiming for a 275*F cook but for some reason my temps held around 215*F. Total cook time was 2 1/4 and 2 1/2 hours for smaller/larger chickens, which leads me to believe that my probe was positioned badly or it is reading off.
But the combination of brining, putting the fat into the cavity, and cooking breast-side down produced the moistest chicken I’ve ever cooked - dark AND white meat.
Any thoughts on the fat-in-the-cavity idea? Does it really baste from the inside or was this cook a fluke? Is the breast meat too dense to really benefit from the internal baste?
Rita
The general advice here is not to cook whole chickens because the breast meat overcooks by the time the dark meat is done. But breaking down 10 raw chickens is more time-consuming than cutting cooked chickens into portions, so that’s my plan.
Here’s an idea that I haven’t seen on the forums:
I trimmed off the large chunks of fat from around the cavity, coarsely chopped them, and reserved them. After brining and applying the rub, I put the chickens (not trussed) on the WSM grate breast-side down. Then I put some of the fat into the cavity over each breast half hoping that it would baste the breast meat from the inside. I also added a couple of onion wedges.
I was aiming for a 275*F cook but for some reason my temps held around 215*F. Total cook time was 2 1/4 and 2 1/2 hours for smaller/larger chickens, which leads me to believe that my probe was positioned badly or it is reading off.
But the combination of brining, putting the fat into the cavity, and cooking breast-side down produced the moistest chicken I’ve ever cooked - dark AND white meat.
Any thoughts on the fat-in-the-cavity idea? Does it really baste from the inside or was this cook a fluke? Is the breast meat too dense to really benefit from the internal baste?
Rita
